Adaptively tunable antennas and method of operation therefore

• US 8,269,683 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2009
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Research in Motion RF Inc (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: McKinzie, William E., Mendolia, Greg, Manssen, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): MANCUSO, HUEDUNG XUAN CAO
• Application Number:
  US12/454,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20100085260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: 343/745, 343/702, 343/700.MS, 343/750, 343850-852, 343860-861
• US Class Current: 343/745
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 23/00 Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/321 within a radiating element or between connected radiating elements
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0407 Substantially flat resonant element parallel to ground plane, e.g. patch antenna dipole H01Q9/285; monopole H01Q9/40
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0421 with a shorting wall or a shorting pin at one end of the element H01Q9/0414 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/145 by varying the electrical length

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention is a method, comprising improving the radiated harmonic distortion of a transmitting antenna system by sensing the RF voltage present on a variable reactance network within the antenna system; controlling the bias signal presented to the variable reactance network; and maximizing the RF voltage present on the variable reactance network.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a directional coupler connected at an input port of a tunable antenna to obtain parameters for determining an input return loss, wherein the directional coupler is directly connected at the input port without additional RF components being connected between the directional coupler and the input port of the tunable antenna; and

a closed loop control system adapted to sense RF voltage across a variable reactance network and generate bias signals based at least in part on the input return loss, wherein the bias signals are configured for causing an adjustment of one or more tunable reactive elements of the variable reactance network to adjust the RF voltage, wherein the variable reactance network is connected on the antenna.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said closed loop control system uses an algorithm implemented on a digital processor to determine the input return loss and to increase the RF voltage, wherein the variable reactive elements utilizes only a single voltage tunable capacitor as the one or more tunable reactive elements, and wherein the algorithm is implemented after a default look-up value is utilized for an initial adjustment of the single voltage, tunable, capacitor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the closed loop control system includes a controller that generates control signals for causing a driver circuit to supply the bias signals to the variable reactance network for adjusting the RF voltage, wherein the bias signals are bias voltages.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said variable reactance network comprises one of a parallel or a series capacitance.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reactance of the variable reactance network is adjusted differently for transmit and receive modes of a communication device comprising the tunable antenna, and wherein the one or more tunable reactive elements comprise one or more voltage tunable ferroelectric capacitors for adjusting the RF voltage.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameters comprise forward and return power, wherein the adjusting of the reactance of the variable reactance network is limited to utilizing the determined input return loss in an iterative tuning algorithm performed by the closed loop control system, and wherein the one or more tunable reactive elements comprise one or more voltage tunable ferroelectric capacitors for adjusting the RF voltage.

7. An apparatus for a communication device, comprising:

a control system operable to;

sense an RF voltage across a variable reactance network connected on a tunable antenna; and

adjust a reactance of the variable reactance network to adjust the RF voltage, wherein the control system uses an algorithm implemented on a digital processor to adjust the RF voltage,

wherein the control system comprises a directional coupler connected at an input port of the tunable antenna, wherein the control system is operable to increase the RF voltage, and wherein the directional coupler is directly connected at the input port without additional RF components being connected between the directional coupler and the input port of the tunable antenna.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the control system comprises a driver circuit that generates bias voltages for adjusting voltage tunable reactive elements of the variable reactance network.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the digital processor is utilized in a baseband processor in a mobile phone, and wherein the directional coupler samples forward and reverse power for the control system to calculate an input return loss utilized in adjusting the reactance of the variable reactance network.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said variable reactance network comprises one of a parallel or series capacitance.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the adjusting of the reactance of the variable reactance network comprises an iterative process, wherein at least one iteration of the iterative process utilizes a frequency of the communication device for determining the reactance, and wherein at least another iteration of the iterative process utilizes a calculated input return loss for determining the reactance.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the tunable antenna comprises a slot antenna.

13. An apparatus for tuning an antenna, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a controller coupled with the memory and operable to;

obtain an RF voltage across a variable reactance network operably coupled with the antenna and the controller, and

adjust a reactance of the variable reactance network to adjust the RF voltage based on an input return loss determined from parameters obtained by a directional coupler connected at an input port of the antenna, wherein the directional coupler is directly connected at the input port without additional RF components being connected between the directional coupler and the input port of the antenna.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller is operable to apply an algorithm implemented on a digital processor to increase the RF voltage.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller is part of a baseband processor in a mobile phone, and wherein the reactance of the variable reactance network is adjusted differently for transmit and receive modes of a communication device comprising the tunable antenna.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the variable reactance network comprises one of a parallel capacitance and a series capacitance.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the variable reactance network is connected on the antenna and one or more tunable reactive elements are embedded in the antenna.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the adjusting of the reactance of the variable reactance network comprises an iterative process, wherein at least one iteration of the iterative process utilizes a frequency for determining the reactance, and wherein at least another iteration of the iterative process utilizes the input return loss for determining the reactance.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein a bias voltage that is associated with the frequency and that is associated with the adjusted reactance resulting from the iterative process is stored in a look-up table in the memory.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the bias voltage stored in the look-up table in the memory is utilized in a subsequent iterative process to adjust the reactance of the variable reactance network.